


Jealousy

by AshsHorrorShow



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Established Relationship, Flirting, Jealousy, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Whining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:19:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13717554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshsHorrorShow/pseuds/AshsHorrorShow
Summary: There was something about Dr. Richards that bothered Arcade. He couldn't think of what it was though...





	Jealousy

“See you later, darling!” Dr. Richards said with a wink and hearty wave, as Arcade, the courier, and Rex ducked out of the medical tent, “Make sure to return soon! It’s going to be real lonely here in this camp without you!”

Arcade felt his eye twitch with annoyance, for more reason than just one. How unprofessional could one doctor be? Especially a doctor as well-liked by the NCR as him? Dr. Richards was lucky that all the other patients in the tent were practically comatose. Rumor had it the NCR didn’t enjoy such blatant expressions of homosexuality.

The courier chuckled though and waved back, promising to come back immediately after they were done with this mission. Arcade managed to resist letting out a groan, but he couldn’t help but roll his eyes just a tad. He had to remind himself of the positive of this situation: they were getting to leave Camp Forlorn Hope for a while. Apparently the courier had gotten a mission from Tech Sergeant Reyes to upgrade the security codes at some other NCR camps, meaning they were going to have to do a bit of travelling. 

And thank god for that! The three of them had been stuck in that miserable excuse of a camp for days now, the courier for some reason feeling compelled to help the camp out with its never-ending problems.

Camp Forlorn Hope was the epitome of depressing. Maybe not depressing in the way the Legion’s entire existence was or seeing a mass grave would be… but depressing in a way watching a one-winged baby crow try to fly would be. It was pathetic and sad at the same time.

For one thing, the place was cripplingly boring. Not that Arcade had ever associated the NCR with being fun, but this place took the cake. This is where happiness, joy, and any other pleasant emotions came to die.

The camp was located in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to look at for scenery except bumpy hills and dead grass. Thrilling. 

The people were no better. Calling them human beings was being extremely generous. They were more like lifeless, dead-eyed shells of what were once human beings. Brainless zombies who followed orders and slept. That was about it. It was like the monotony and shitty state of their camp had literally sucked the life out of them.

None of them swapped stories, none of them told jokes, no one said anything unless it was one of the leaders barking an order. The only interesting thing he’d seen any of these soldiers do was one day, he had saw out of the corner of his eye was one of them surreptitiously inject themselves with jet when they thought no one was looking. And that was more sad than it was amusing.

Not helped by the fact that he and the courier had busted one of the soldiers trying to steal the already limited medical supplies. 

At the end of the day, Camp Forlorn Hope was nothing more than a poorly-run, poorly-built, poorly-funded wasteland where expendable soldiers were sent to die. Those who didn’t lost their zeal for life. As far as Arcade saw it, objectively, Camp Forlorn Hope was a dog or patient that needed to be put down. But the courier didn’t seem to see it that way. The courier kept insisting that he could fix the place up at least a little, make the camp a little bit less hopeless. And because the courier was stubborn, he refused to leave the place and made Arcade and Rex have to suffer from the monotony of the place.

Arcade insisted to himself the only reason he had stayed around was because he was afraid of being ambushed by a bunch of cazadores on the way back to Freeside. They did seem to have a preference for mountainous areas like this. 

There was only one person in Camp Forlorn Hope who managed to maintain a personality despite it all. That being the doctor, Dr. Richards. That was perhaps what drew the courier into helping that area of the camp first. Unfortunately, despite admiring the doctor’s perseverance in the face of such misery, Arcade found he didn’t like the man all that much.

It was hard to explain what about the man bothered him so much. After all, there wasn’t anything about him that was _glaringly_ bad. He was nice and polite, which was a rarity nowadays when it came to people of the Mojave. He was obviously skilled in his profession given how at ease he was at explaining anything medical related and judging by how much the NCR wanted his skills. He even had taught the courier and him a really helpful tip on how to make an antivenom that got fought against cazador poison at a more effective rate than most standard antivenoms. On all accounts, Arcade knew he had no real justification for not liking the other, but he couldn’t help it. There was just something about him that bothered him…

When he was vocalizing this to the courier though, the courier just shrugged and said, “You’re just jealous is all.”

Arcade had immediately bristled at the accusation, face heating as he spluttered, “Jealous? Where in the world did you conjure that misconception up?”

The courier didn’t seem to be bothered by the strong reaction. Shrugging, he just continued walking out of the camp, watching idly as Rex charged ahead to scare a flock of crows (the dog probably happy to be out of that prison), “I dunno. It was just that you seemed alright with him at first all until he started calling me buttercup and stuff.” At the last part, the courier smirked smugly at him. 

Arcade felt his face heat up more. Fixing his glasses to try and cover that he said, “That is not necessarily true! I do admit I got a little more annoyed with him after that but not for any of the inane reasons you are thinking!”

“Oh? Then, tell me, what reasons are those?” the courier drawled, clearly just humoring Arcade.

Despite that, Arcade began explaining away, saying, “Well, seeing as he is a doctor, I would expect him to show a lot more professionalism while he is on the job. Blatantly flirting with someone in front of the patients and wearing a blood-stained T-shirt is not-”

The end of his sentence came out as a muffled sound of surprise as the courier surged forward and pressed his lips to his, catching Arcade off-guard. Arcade knew he should probably roughly shove the courier away for being so shameless and rude, but he found himself giving in and returning the kiss instead, letting out a sigh as he felt his spine shudder, his eyes going half-lidded.

When the courier pulled away, Arcade heard him breathily say, “Personally, I think you are the last doctor who should be complaining about other doctors’ professionalism, seeing as you are here with me instead of at Old Mormon Fort.”

Arcade looked away as he quickly said, “To be fair, I was more of a researcher than a doctor…” 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Arcade,” the courier said, clearly not buying the excuse for a second.

Arcade felt a wave of indignation despite himself. Honestly this courier could be such a smartass…

Not trusting himself to say anything else without making himself look like an even bigger fool, Arcade decided he would be silent for the rest for the rest of the trip, his pride now hurt a bit.

But as he moped, idly watching as Rex sniff around for something to distract himself, he jerked when he felt warm breath suddenly hit his ear, the courier having sneaked up behind him (did he have cat feet?), whispering, “Well don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours, you’re the only doctor I am interested in.”

Right as Arcade was trying to formulate an appropriate response to him, a loud series of squeals and barks hit the air. The courier let out a cry, running off, yelling at Rex to get back. Apparently Rex had found a naked mole rat, and from the looks of it, was making quick work of finishing it off, though it was putting up quite a fight.

Arcade hated to admit it, but the courier’s words made his shoulders sag with relief, a small smile forming on his face. 

Even the horrible squeals of the mole rat couldn’t ruin his mood.

**Author's Note:**

> This was me the whole entire time writing this: Unnnghhh... I want to play Fallout: New Vegas. I love this game too much, honestly.
> 
> I always wondered how Arcade feels about Dr. Richards or any of the other people you can flirt with in New Vegas if you flirt your way into obtaining his friendship. Lol. Decided to make a fic about it. 
> 
> As always, critique is wanted and if you see a mistake, feel free to point it out so I can fix. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
